Extra resources for Approaches to Robotics in the United States and Japan Report of a Bilateral Exc

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S. and Japanese companies need to find suitable areas for cultivation. There are two ways to find such areas: (1) identify an area in which both countries already have considerable, potentially complementary, technology and marry these technologies in one project and (2) choose an area to which each can bring a strong basic skill but in which neither has much expertise. Nuclear emergency and disaster response robots are examples of the former. S. and Japanese policymakers are interested in such technologies in light of events at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, but work on radiation-hardened electronics and autonomous locomotion in human-scale spaces is in its infancy.

Themes that might be explored for collaborative research include telepresence, cooperation between manipulators and robots, trainable systems, sensing, and perception.

In manufacturing emphasis is shifting from labor savings to labor enhancement. Beyond manufacturing, a host of service robot technologies directed at the underlying goal of all technology— improving the amenity of life—is foreseen. We are looking forward to the potential of robots used in hospitals and in the care of the elderly and infirm, in construction, waste disposal, and nuclear power plant and other hazardous work and even as personal attendants and companions in the home. * The necessary collaboration, like the achievements, will not come easily.